Running through the woods and going to see a president

Two weekends ago we drove to a park on the southwest side of town to run a 5k trail race. All four of us had planned on running but George came down with a fever a few days before and missed some school, so he acted as event photographer instead. Owen and Becca had never run a trail race before. In fact, Owen had never run that distance before. All went well. Owen and Bec started off together, but it wasn't long before Owen took off on his own pace. It was great to look up and see my little man coming out of the woods all by himself, finishing strong.

Yesterday, Bec and I rode our bikes downtown to see a future president. Barak Obama came through town to ask the question, What's so funny about peace,love and understanding? The speech was held in the Veterans' Memorial Mall which sets right before the main library. The mall is a giant rectangular lawn where we used to squeeze in with the rest of the city to watch the fireworks on the Fourth of July. I have never seen the place as crowded as it was yesterday, and with every sort and type of person you can imagine. They estimated there were 35,000 packed in there and I believe it. Bec and I didn't get very close, but we could see him well enough from where we stood, and it was just good to be there. I've never attended any event of that magnitude, and as weird as it sounds to say, especially since it was so amazingly peaceful, it really felt like we were taking part of something important.